US corn futures fell more than 1 percent on Tuesday on planting progress in the world's top producer, coupled with concerns about bird flu slowing demand for poultry feed, traders said. Soyabeans declined as the bird flu fears pressured futures for soyameal, which like corn is a major poultry feed ingredient. But wheat firmed on short-covering after prices were able to hold above last week's lows.
At the Chicago Board of Trade as of noon CDT (1700 GMT), May corn was down 5 cents at $3.73 per bushel. May soyabeans were down 4 cents at $9.73-1/2 a bushel and May wheat was up 6-1/4 cents at $5.05 a bushel.
Corn fell on confirmation of a lethal strain of bird flu affecting millions of hens at an egg-laying facility in Iowa, the worst case so far in a national outbreak. Shares of Hormel Foods Corp fell more than 3 percent after the Minnesota-based company announced that the impact of avian influenza may drag its fiscal 2015 earnings toward the lower end of guidance.
"We have seen that (bird flu) can affect feed demand in the past when we've had outbreaks, not only in US but also overseas," said Shawn McCambridge with Jefferies Bache in Chicago. Corn also fell on forecasts for benign weather in the US crop belt this week that should aid fieldwork. The US Department of Agriculture said corn planting was 9 percent complete by Sunday in the 18 top-producing states, behind the five-year average of 13 percent.
Further pressure stemmed from news that Argentina authorised the export of an additional 3.5 million tonnes of its 2014/2015 corn crop. Wheat's strength was seen as technical. Commodity funds hold a massive net short position in CBOT wheat, leaving the market vulnerable to short-covering. Still, ample world stocks and poor export demand for US supplies hang over the market, capping rallies.
Comments
Comments are closed.